BitterSweet
by sukiomi1
Summary: Sesshomaru has encountered someone who is managing to unravel his hatred and passion so heatedly he can't decided whether to pursue, or kill.
1. Chapter 1

Audra-sama, what is bittersweet?" A fourteen year old Rin looked up at her, perplexed. Audra stared at her for a moment.

"Bitter sweet, I suppose, is something that is sweet but at the same time bitter." Rin pondered it for a moment before a confused look settled on her face.

"Is that possible, for bitter and sweet to be present at the same time?" Audra smiled at the little girl. She was still so young, even in her human years. Quietly, they slowed their pace and decided to find shelter under a tree. Ah-un, snorted once before wandering off within the trees.

"It _is_ quite a predicament, is it not?" Audra smiled before she reached into her sling pack and pulled out a hardened honey out her bag. She gently handed it to Rin.

"Try it, maybe it will clarify things better. Cautiously, Rin stuck it in her mouth and Audra watched as her eyes glowed in excitement.

"It's sweet! Like honey!" Audra nodded and continued to wait. She watched as the little girls face began to scrunch up slowly. Rin coughed once, before she looked at Audra with narrowed eyes.

"That was not pleasant, Audra-sama, what was that?" The older youkai chuckled lightly. "My dear, what you tasted was bitter." Rin pouted slightly. "Why would anyone make a confection such as that." Audra shrugged. "Many of my people like the bitter, although," she glanced at the girl with humorous eyes "maybe not in the order you tasted."

Rin looked with apprehension. "Why then, do you carry such confection, Audra-sama?" Audra stared at her for a bit, then looked up at the darkening sky.

"Come Rin, we have to settle for the night." Audra gathered wood while Rin fetched ah-un. Audra opened her lips and breathed fire out unto the wood, igniting it immediately. Once everything was set Audra rose a barrier around them and carefully settled against ah-un. Rin laid her head on Audra's legs. Everything was quiet for the moment. The sun had finally settled and the only light they had now was the small fire and the momentary red whisps of the barrier. Ah-uh twitched slightly then let out another snort before breathing deeply.

"It's a reminder, Rin." Said girl looked up and waited silently.

"Not everything that is sweet, remains that way. When you live as long as I have, you see deceit and betrayal far too many times." She looked down at her innocent eyes. "Perhaps if you learn the lesson this way, you will save yourself from disappointment." The crickets chirped at the silence afterwards and Rin spoke once more. "So the hard honey is sweet bitter?" Audra nodded before her gaze shifted immediately in front of her.

"Rin." Rin's eyes widened and a grin spread across her face as she rushed toward the new comer.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Behind them a squacking was heard. "Insolent child, how dare you get lost and waste Lord Sesshomaru's time!"

The little girls gaze shifted to him and she screamed happily. "Lord Jaken!" The frog youkai yelped and started running from the girls happy embrace.

Sesshomaru's gaze never left Audra. "Feline." The simple words echoing disdain.

Audra growled at the name. "Dog" she retorted. There was a pause before Sesshomaru spoke again. "Need I remind you that you are in this one's lands and such insolence will not be tolerated."

Audra glared. "Need I remind you _Sesshomaru_, that I am a noble from Rome and have been granted entry to discuss the treaty. Do well to hold your tongue, oh great Lord of the West."

Sesshomaru glared and his hand skimmed bakusaiga. Audra smirked. "Please do Sesshomaru, I welcome the challenge."

They had a momentary stare off when Sesshomaru spoke once more. "Jaken, Rin. We leave." Audra sighed and stood up glancing down and lightly tapping the dragon awake.

Sesshomaru observed with narrowed eyes the comfort his dragon had with the Lion youkai. The dragon nudged Audra before heading to Sesshomaru's side. Rin ran up next to Sesshomaru pouting.

"Audra-sama never told Rin what bittersweet is." A small smile appeared on Audra's face before once more going into her sling bag and pulling out a different confection. "Here." She gently walked to Rin and placed the hard candies in her hand and she lightly ruffled her hair.

"It is the same concept I taught you before, but reversed. Perhaps you could say it is a better outlook to things." With that she turned around and started walking away as Rin ate one of her confection.

"Bittersweet." Rin spoke in afterthought. "Is Lord Sesshomaru and Audra-sama bitter and sweet?" She looked at the lioness with a toothy grin.

Audra paused for a moment before glaring at the inuyukai. "Something like that." She offered hesitantly, and walked once more away from the headache.

"Thank you for helping this Rin!" Rin looked at the trailed that Audra went through to see nothing but dissipating flames. Sesshomaru glared at the remaining flame and glanced down at his ward, whom looked up at him expectantly and offered him the honey confection.

Reluctantly, he took it and gracefully ate it. Immediately he was greeted by the wonderful taste of bitterness that he found quite addicting before it slowly turned soothingly sweet. Rin waited patiently for his approval and he reluctantly nodded.

"This Sesshomaru finds this satisfactory." Inwardly though he thought that the combination, though intricate, was rather addicting. He glanced at the trail once more before turning around and heading the opposite direction.


	2. Chapter 2

The first time Sesshomaru met the Eastern Rome princess he had been, in other words, stunned.

He had expected to see her being formally introduced by one of Japan's other lords. (Because kami knew he would never introduce someone so tedious.) Where upon her name and linage being spoken loudly she would have entered the Main hall in all her feminine and princess-like glory and took her appointed seat as representative of her country. After meaningless chatter, they would all have discussed the treaty and establish a new alliance with the new negotiator.

No. She had completely ignored the script from the beginning much to his displeasure.

Instead, it was well past noon; seeing as the sun just reached its most highest point in the sky and there was still no word from the princess. In other terms, he would not have cared or let her absence concern him in the least, but the problem was the the renewal of the treaty was in _his_ lands and in _his_ palace and because of such he would have to endure the other lords longer than necessary.

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. He would not wait any longer. With that in mind he graciously stood up, catching the attention of the other lords, and without a single word he left. His mind quickly and feverishly thinking of the ways this princess would rue the day she made this Sesshomaru _retreave_ her.

Audra Valaharva had not expected finding the western palace so unnecessarily difficult. At first, when she had entered her family's carriage, all her brother told her was to refrain from killing anybody when she was in foreign land.

"_Audra," said demoness looked up to her older brother. "It would do you well not to kill any foreign youkai," Roman gave her a stern look. "Unless you feel like your life depends on it. Remember that these youkai's traditions are different from ours. They are not used to women taking high stature and order."  
His crystal blue eyes shone brightly throughout the lecture, reminding Audra exactly the struggle she went through to get to her point of power. "Audra, am I clear? We cannot afford to lose this treaty, and neither can they. Make a good impression." Audra nodded absentmindedly and her brother sighed._

_"Roman," her brother stared at her curiously. "You seem to forget just exactly who I am and the experience I hold. This is just another battle that needs to be conquered." She glared at her brother. "Do not be a fool, I am not Onamor."_

_His eyes widened slightly before comprehension set in. "I know." The admission settled lightly in the air before Audra nodded. With that, her right hand servant closed the door and got in front of the carriage. The demon horses roared at the whips being flung at them before they took off in the air. The trail of red hot fire was the only track they left behind._

When they had arrived Audra immediately dismissed Alexandre, whom immediately started to protest. Audra gave him a stern look. And though he was reluctant, he obeyed and promised to come for her on eight days wait.

She had been informed that the meeting would be held at the western lord's palace, but no one had told her where exactly his palace was. She entered the woods and let her instincts guide her.

_'It's probably at the center of the lands.'_

Her lip pursed at the thought. '_Maybe I should have kept Alexandre_.' As soon as the thought came, it left. She did not want to be underestimated simply because she had a male guard with her. With that thought she carried on walking through the woods. Eventually she was sure she was close when a uniformed demon approached her.

"I wish to locate the Western Palace." She gave a steady look at the demon in front of her. His dark silver hair was pulled up in a pony tail and his light brown eyes peered at her curiously. They had a momentary stare off before she coughed once more and repeated her statement. This time the demon, _dog_ _demon _she thought absentmindedly, gave her a scrutinizing looked before he barked something at her. She gave him a perplexed look.

"Pardon?"

The demon stayed silent for a moment before he repeated his sentence, whatever it was. At that moment Audra slapped herself silly for forgetting the language barrier of both countries.

This could easily be fixed.

She stepped forward towards the demon and leaned her face towards his. Immediately his eyes narrowed and he flipped backwards away from her and pulled out what seemed to be a metal spiked whip.

Maybe not as easy.

She tried to tell him that she meant no harm. She tried to tell him that she was here for the treaty, but it seemed that every foreign word that passed her lips aggravated him more. Suddenly his whips charged up with lightning and he let a loud rumble from his chest echo throughout the clearing. At that point Audra knew he was calling more of his fellow _dogs _and she took a deep breath keeping a mental mantra in her head.

'_Do not kill the youkai.'_

With that in mind, she nodded to herself and tried to walk away. Tried. The minute she took a step away from the nonsensical youkai, she found the metal whip wrapped around her throat. The spikes agonizingly dug into her skin and she was pretty sure one was close to her jugular, much to her displeasure. Things would only get worse, she acknowledged, as four more dog demons stepped into the clear with the same damn whips as the idiot holding her. Once more she breathed very deeply and escaped into her mind repeating the mantra that she was finding difficult to pull through due to such insolence on their part.

"Do not kill any youkai."

Sesshomaru had gone maybe seven steps away from the palace when one of his guards approached him.

"My lord," the guard bowed at him and he nodded his head to proceed. The guard gave him a disgruntled look.

"I did not want to bother you with such a minor thing, but there is a strange youkai in the outer skirts of the palace." Sesshomaru's eyes scanned the area for the hime.

"Have you disposed of the youkai?" The question was air absentmindedly.

The guard looked at him carefully before facing the ground.

"The female is strong, my lord. The only thing we have managed to do is subdue her, and even then," he took a deep breath. "I fear she is merely holding back."

Sesshomaru's eyes fell immediately on the guard in a hard glare.

"Does she appear to be a hime?"

The cold tone in his voice alarmed the guard, but he kept his face down shaking his head in disagreement.

"No my lord, her attire speaks of a warrior, but it is very different from here."

Sesshomaru eyes scanned the area before reassessing his mindset. He was beginning to loathe this whole meeting because, if his recalculation were correct, his guards just committed a transgression.

"Where?" The guard looked up at him then pointed to the clearing.

"Just after the trail my lord, where the clearing is." With that Sesshomaru sprinted towards the direction, irritation clearly in his eyes. This would simply not do.

When he had arrived at the clearing he had not known what to expect.

What he found was the female youkai in the center of the clearing with electrified whips wrapped around her neck arms and legs. It had appeared that the guards were trying to dismember her, but to no avail. Her face was relatively calm, bored even with her eyes passively closed. Her face was framed by the short layered locks of auburn hair the just barely passed her shoulder

Her attire was indeed strange. She wore a metal chest plate that covered all around her shoulder and stopped right above her elbow. The boots she wore seemed to be made of the same metal material and stopped right below her knees. The cloth she wore under the armor were a dark scarlet color that looked like it would be a hakama, but they were slimmer and closely hugged her figure. All of it was tied together by a golden velvet sash that wrapped around her chest all the way to her lower waist. But what immediately caught his attention was the branding she had on her forearm of the plate. It was the insignia of Rome. A lions face roaring with fire circling around it as a frame.

And if that wasn't enough of a confirmation for him, there was a dark brown lions mane around her shoulder. Similar to his mokomoko, but none-the-less it was a symbol of royalty.

Outraged, he let his youkai out briefly to his guards. Later, he would have reconsidered letting out a verbal command instead. But the female's eyes opened up immediately in alert and she went from defense to offense in that moment.

She embraced the whips wrapped around her hands and effortlessly pulled the whips to her. Immediately the guards were pulled to her, where she then proceeded to grab them by their throat and ROAR in their faces before throwing the guards toward his figure. He didn't move, but his eyes narrowed at her impudence.

Perhaps she thought he was going to attack as well.

She didn't notice, or maybe she didn't care, but she grabbed the whip around her throat and forcefully released it from her person. Immediately blood gushed from the wounds , but it didn't seem to phase her and she flung the whip at the owner and wrapped his own whip around his neck. He let out a pained roar, but she ignored it as she flung his body at the two remaining guards.

She did a forward cartwheel before turning to face him with an enraged glare. Her orange blue eyes stared him down mercilessly and she let out a roar at his person. His youkai flared at the challenge and he stepped forward. In retaliation she let her own youkai flare. His beast demanded to be let out, to make the woman in front of him submit. His eyes momentarily went red before he reeled the beast back, trying his best not to let his instincts take over.

"Submittere, id nihil mali" (Submit, I mean no harm.)

She spoke and while her voice was soft but commanding, He did not understand and took a cautious step forward.

"Seize your attacks, feline."

Audra may not have known any Japanese, but one word her big brother, Onamor, had taught her was feline. He also shared his personal opinion of the distaste he felt of it. This is whom he must have learned it from. She now curiously stared at the new comer in front of her.

He was... Pretty.

His hair was a soft white. 'Like snow.' She acknowledged. He had a blue crescent mark on his forehead and magenta stripes on his cheek. Besides that, he wore a royal attire and a chest plate all of it brought together, strangely, by his fluffy... Thing... loosely hanging from his shoulder. She would have taken a few more moments to admire his beauty except for the one thing. _Feline_?!

"Quomodo miser feline me vocas, _canis." _(How dare you call me feline, dog.)

Sesshomaru glared at the woman in front of him. Courtesy of the previous negotiator, he knew exactly when he was being called a dog. He growled at her retaliation. She visibly smirked.

"Tu unus tam viriliter." (You behave like one as well.)

He wasn't sure what she said but he felt the sudden need to wipe that smirk off her face.

And he did.

The attack was so sudden, Audra almost didn't see it coming. She flipped backwards barely missing the claws that wanted to wrap around her neck. Quickly she kicked the stranger away. She tried. He easily dodged the kick and descended into the air and seemed to create what looked like green whips from the tips of his fingers. Her eyes narrowed and and she used her arm to block the whip aiming for her face. The whips wrapped around her wrist and she felt her skin literally sizzling from the poison it emitted.

'_What is it with these dogs and whips?'_

He withdrew the whip and much to her concern she still felt the poison slowly seeping into her skin.

Sesshomaru gazed at the strange woman, wondering what she would do with the poison eating her skin. In the back of his mind he briefly wondered if she was the hime he was supposed to negotiate with. He found that he didn't particularly care seeing as she insulted him. That was a transgression he would not tolerate from anyone. His eyes widen suddenly when she suddenly sparked flames from her hand and proceeded to grasp her poisoned wrist. She burned the poison from her body and while Sesshomaru was mildly intrigued by the quick thinking, he was left wondering how strong she really was to have kept a straight face throughout the process.

She looked up at him with her deep golden azure eyes and she jumped until she was at the same level with him.

She smiled.

His eyes widened slightly.

She breathed out fire from her lips.

Only this fire was intensely hotter, almost excruciating and he felt his skin start bubbling where the fire came came in direct contact with his skin. His arms covered his face and she took the moment drop kick him to the ground.

And he couldn't understand why he couldn't move. His body refused to cooperate with his demands and he watched as the young woman loomed over him in contemplation. And he really took a good look at her. She was injured. With the electric spikes still traced around her joints and her wrist still having third degree burns by her own doing, she looked fierce, majestic, even. And he decided he hated her. Because she was unknown and she somehow managed to outsmart him. And why the hell couldn't he move? And all the malicious thoughts left his mind when he saw her shrug to herself as if finding a verdict and she knelt down next to him.

What happened next would permanently weld itself into his mind.

She leaned down and placed her lips on his. He was shocked. Stunned, even.  
He let an in audible gasp out and she smiled. She took his breath away. Literally. He felt like she was taking an essence away from him and he struggled against his invisible restraints trying to free himself. Abruptly, she pulled away and stood up spitting to the side of the ground. And gave him an apprehensive look.

"I am Audra Valaharva, leader and Princess of Eastern Rome"

He understood her. She was speaking Japanese proficiently now.

"Audra Valaharva, your life is now forfeit to this Sesshomaru." He glared. His voice sounded strangled. His hatred was so intense she could feel it bouncing off from her in waves.

She scoffed.

"Thank you for your welcoming committee."

Sesshomaru could only be grateful his guards were long gone.


End file.
